Oh crap

[smeddley]

The school bond passed. Because, you know, it's only another couple of dollars a month on your property tax and it's for the children.

I wish I could even concentrate on my NaNo novel to give me something to do, but I don't even feel like working on that.

There's been so much hate and anger spewed the last few months, it's hard to forget. Not directly at me, but I have lost people on my f-list to the hate and, frankly, I've lost a lot of respect for a lot of people. I don't feel like I can comment on half of the journals on my f-list because of the nastiness. There's never any call for the things that were said.

I think, for the most part, I've handled it well.

But, honestly, there's only so much I can take. I thought after the election it would get better, but it seems, for now, it's actually getting worse.

Being caught in the middle I'm an idiot in all of my beliefs - both 'sides' hate me, though I've only felt the wrath of one lately. I admit, I wouldn't be truly happy no matter who won, though I would have felt a little better about my money and my debt had the other guy pulled it out. I just hope I can look back in four years and realize my apprehension was for naught.

I do ask, though, that if you are going to keep up with the nastiness (or a majority of the people who comment on your journal will) to unfriend me now. I like all of y'alls non-political posts, but if this doesn't stop soon I am going to have to take drastic measures and, I don't know... avoid the computer altogether. I know a few people who have pretty much quit LJ over this, and I don't want that to happen (besides, I'm paid up through next June, I think...)

Comments

[aeamek.livejournal.com]

I think the real winner in this election is CNN, because...holy shit...THEY MADE STAR WARS COME TRUE. Freakin' holograms!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I watched zero election coverage - I just checked the totals this morning, actually. My hatred of the news media increases a billion fold at times like this! Besides, they have nothing to say, really, so it's like watching an awkward family reunion where people sit around and look at each other going... "so..." "yeah, so..."

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Y'all should have been talking about the important event that occured on Tuesday.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

So, what happened on Tuesday? And what is more important than even more money being squeezed out of my wallet? I mean, that's one less package per month I can send! O.O

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

the race that stops a nation!

it could have put money INTO your wallet if you'd picked right

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Ha! My ability to pick a winning horse? Might as well stick with my other get-rich plan, which is to find the winning lottery ticket left abandoned on the street!

Ugh, I have to go to a meeting. *sigh* Just what I needed today!

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

^^* I thought, at first, that you were referring to Michael Chrichton's (Oh lawd, I don't know if I spelled his name right) death. He died at 66 from cancer on election day. I wasn't really a fan of his work, but he's been one of the more noteworthy SciFi writers of the last 40 years.

To Smed: I'm sorry your f-list's been so scary. Mine's been pretty even-tempered and low key, which I've taken for granted, apparently. I'm sorry yours has been as volatile as all this.

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Huh! That read like an advertisement.

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

I... have no idea how to interpret that response. What was advertisement-like?

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Your first paragraph.

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

Was that a bad thing? Or were you just observing?

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

It was off-putting, but mostly it was just an observation, hence the "huh".

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

Okay. Sorry. I wasn't attempting to offend; I rattled off the information in pretty much the order it ran in my brain -- one of my friends posted a news story about it on his LJ, and that was the summary. I am not one of the man's fans, but he's been a sort of cultural icon for a while and the reference to Other Events of Election Day made me think about that. ^_^* I drive-by comment once in a while. Yaaay, internet...

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

It was the seeming assumption that I would not know who he was that was off-putting, if you wished for further clarification.

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

Oh! Gotcha. That's just a side effect of being around people who don't read enough. Or ever... I'm kind of preprogrammed to automatically explain what the hell I'm talking about in response to blank stares, and was not in any way meant to imply you were totally ignorant of him.

[cazrolime.livejournal.com]

(I made a post that was pretty much word for word "Palin? AUGH NO" a little while back, so now I'm kinda worried that I was one of the people ruining your flist. >_> Sorry.)

But seriously, I don't think people should be bashed for voting one way or the other-- that's what an election is for, guys. They pretty much exist so that people can have different viewpoints and express them. And that includes being more or less on the fence-- I'm sorry you've had hassle over that, and it better not happen again. You're too awesome for that. <3 *hugs*

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Nah, it wasn't you. :) See, I don't want to come across as bitchy, and it's not like people can't say bad things (I, myself, have plenty of bad things to say about Palin, believe me!) but it's in how you say it.

There's a huge difference in saying 'Palin is a bad choice, just look at her voting record and her stance on education and religion, we can't afford that kind of intolerance' and saying 'you f'ing morons who'd vote for her have shit for brains and I hope you all die'. Just a wee tiny difference there. And I've seen far to much of the latter. Which is kind of ironic, you know, preaching tolerance and then going and saying crap like that.

And thank you for thinking I'm awesome. :)

[cazrolime.livejournal.com]

Ah, the ages-old divide that I have come to think of in terms of "con crit vs. flaming" which kinda betrays how much time I spend on the internet. So yeah, urgh. I don't subscribe to the idea of "if you can't say something nice then don't say anything", but come on, people. Civility and tolerance and manners and respect and all those good things. :/

(I more-or-less go by "if you can't say something nice, but the not-nice thing still needs to be said, then for crying out loud please remember that this isn't a playground fight". :P)

And you're welcome! :D To be fair, you make it easy to hold such an opinion.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I in no way subscribe to 'the cult of nice', because, frankly, criticism is important and needed. But, yes, as in critiquing writing, there's a huge difference between pointing out bad writing and calling the author a 'son of a biscuit-eating bulldog' (though, frankly, if all the insults were that creative I would have to admit I'd find it amusing!).

Let no one say I can't handle con-crit, but I've lived far to long being flamed and I'm tired of it. Can I move to Antarctica now? :D

[dynastic-queen.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. People need to go foam at the mouth someplace else.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't see what it was that brought out so much... evilness. And from people preaching tolerance out of one side of their mouth and then slamming those that don't agree with them out of the other. *shakes head* Why can't people be nice... :(

[dynastic-queen.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY.

[triskellion.livejournal.com]

You thought it would be over now? Ouch. I knew better. Whoever won this one, everyone is gong to have a comment. One of my friend said "the election is over, let the shitstorming and blaming begin." It's so true. At least you aren't in California. Everyone is still spazzing over Prop 8, and who knows when the final vote will be done.

Sorry, I do understand. I'd love for this to be over, and for people to settle down. I don't intend to say much about it, too painful. But after two years of ramp up, I expect it's going to linger a long time.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I don't mind the celebration, or the 'yay, he won!' sort of posts. I equate it to the end of a big game (say, the World Series). Yes, you expect the fans to celebrate, then talk about who's still going to be on the team next year and what the strategy will be. That's to be expected, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. What is a bad thing is the drunken fans that head out to the parking lot and punch the opposing team's fans in the face. That is not acceptable behavior.

If you can't even be a gractious winner, what kind of person are you? (not you, mind, that was the general third-person thingee).

Yeah, I'm glad I don't have to deal with the fallout from Prop 8 - though, sadly, I kinda wish my state was open-minded enough for it to even be an issue. I do commend the 3% of the population of my state that voted for neither of the 'main candidates', though, so maybe there's hope for some independent thought after all!

[oneworldvision.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. I kind of feel weird about removing people from my flist, but there was at least one person that I very nearly did take off last night because of this crap. I can't even read some of my favorite webcomics because of all the hate that's spewing in the sidebars. And 99% of it is coming from people who got what they wanted, so what do they have to be so pissy about at this point?

I've also had a lot of complaints on my flist about McCain supporters getting nasty on Facebook statuses and such, but honestly I haven't seen any of it myself. Maybe I just don't know any McCain supporters? I don't care either way, I just want everyone to STFU.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. Even a lot of TV shows are getting annoyingly political. I don't like it. I want to watch TV and read comics to escape 'real world' things. And it makes me not like a lot of those comics and shows anymore, which is sad. Why do people have to use things like that to push an agenda? Is nothing for fun anymore?

I did think they'd at least be gracious winners, but I guess I'm more naive than I thought. I haven't seen a lot of Obama hate, but then, I think even a lot of Republicans weren't particularly on the McCain bandwagon (they voted for him as a lesser of two evils, not because he was god-like - the people who simply think Obama is the best choice because of plans and policies aren't the problems, it's the people who idolize him. And no matter what, no matter if he fails, those people will never admit it and that'll piss me off even more).

I feel very alone out here in the center. I know there are others, rational, reasonable people, but they're hard to find. Partly, I think, because they're generally quiet. I really do hope the Libertarian party gets its butt in gear, because with the Republican hate, if the Democrats also fail it'd be a good time for them to rise up.

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

I don't hate you! I'm kind of sad that there wasn't a candidate you felt you could get behind, but that's the system's fault, not yours. I'm also kind of sad that you're not happy about who won, but you're still my friend, and really... nastiness is just uncalled for. This is the US of A! Our elections are supposed to be happy and smooth!

I haven't seen any nastiness on my flist, just happiness. Of course, I may not have noticed any minor nastiness directed toward McCain/Palin because I probably agree with it and it would be buried in a happy post. And I think you're my only friend who is not an Obama supporter! Don't you feel special?

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I'm your only friend over the age of 30, too... ;) Us old folk are crotchety and very cynical, because we've seen and heard it all. I think they did a study, once, and something like 10% (or it might have been less) of campaign promises were actually carried out.

I'm not happy because I can't see a positive end to this. One, Obama has been very, very light on the details of his 'change', and two, a lot of his statements seem very contradictory (for instance, lowering taxes and providing a lot more public assistance - the money has to come from somewhere. Also, he's promised to end the war in Iraq but go after and defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan... so it's not an end of war, just a change in battlegrounds?)

Even the news media has kinda mentioned that 'now that the election is over, maybe he'll elaborate on what he's actually planning on doing'. They're even admitting that, beyond the word 'change', there hasn't been a whole lot of substance in the 'how' arena. And in governement, 'how' is a very big deal.

I'm also concerned that (being cynical) when (okay, if, but given the state of the economy, I don't think anything but time can save it) he fails to turn the country around right away (yes, I know he's said it's going to be a hard road, but the extremists aren't hearing that) that they're going to end up blaming it on the fact that he's black. And that... that would be so very disappointing, and a huge step backwards for the country. I'm also nervous that if the worst should happen, and the wackos succeed, Biden will end up president and that will suck. Even the Democrat party has been slapping him down and shunning him for years...

[clare-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

Heh, you're not, but you're one of a few ;)

Um, we still are at war in Afghanistan. So it's not a change in battlegrounds, just removing one. If that promise even comes true... I kind of doubt it.

Eek, do you really think they would blame his failures (which I'm sure he'll have!) on being black? That... would be incredibly disappointing. I'm, um, going to tell myself it won't happen.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I don't know that there's an 'official' war in Afghanistan, though I know we're there and hunting (and some of the recordings and intel the people who have infiltrated the Taliban groups bring back are terrifying). I don't think, after approving the declaration of war in Iraq the Congress was willing to do it again. The pullout from Iraq is already planned, so I would think it would happen - but if it coincides with an increase of forces in Afghanistan, it's not much of a gain. Mind, not that I don't think we should finish what we started, but I don't think the 'adoring' public (the ones who idolize and have elevated him on a pedastal) will see it that way. They'll see it as a broken promise if not every single troop is home in a year.

Like I said, I'm older and much more cynical, and I can totally see that happening. If he fails, it's not the failure of a single man, but the failure of an entire race, and that would not be pretty. I, personally, and hoping for an obnoxiously uneventful next four years. That would make me very happy. The nasty, bigoted people in this country don't need anything else to fuel them on. :(

[elaran.livejournal.com]

Oh dude, I'm sorry your flist have been fucktards. =/

And I think you've handled this pretty amazingly well if people have been flaming you.

♥

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't crawled off on a corner and died the way they wanted me to, so I'm counting that as a victory!

It seemed (what I could briefly see yesterday) that it had calmed down - whether it's just people moving on, or the shock of the turn-around implied by his appointment of his WHCoS, I don't know. But I'm happy - or, I would be, if I could get off my butt and write more of my NaNo. It's just not flowing...

[elaran.livejournal.com]

*celebrates* *throws confetti*

Yeah, he doesn't exactly seem to match the 'I-will-listen-to-everyone' part of Obama's speech. Or the 'change' part.

*sends your brain NaNo vibes*

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Please don't go away! I'm glad I don't really make any political posts, and I'm sick of seeing all of them even if I do understand them.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I'm not sick of politics, not really - it is fascinating, and would be a great topic of discussion if only people would be reasonable and rational. But then, religion is an iteresting topic, too, but... yeah.

I think the other half of my f-list made me feel a lot better. It was a 'the world keeps chugging along' feeling to see all the writing posted, the book reviews, and the craft projects. It did help to ground me a little, I think. So LJ is two-sided, and I guess I have to take the bad with the good. Though there are places I probably won't really comment much (not you! I haven't commented much at all lately, our internet at home was barely working yesterday *sigh* so I couldn't even catch up. Now, if I'd used that time to write my NaNo, I'd be in good shape. Instead, I fell asleep watching a football game...)